By Dan Miller, Progressive Farmer Senior Editor, and Susan Payne, DTN Social Media and Young Farmer Editor

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (DTN) -- DTN/Progressive Farmer announced its 16th class of America's Best Young Farmers and Ranchers on Thursday.

The annual award recognizes five farmers and ranchers who best represent the pioneering promises of American agriculture -- farmers and ranchers who are innovative, imaginative and who work to improve their communities.

"We look for farmers and ranchers who are meeting the promise and challenges of 21st-century agriculture," said Gregg Hillyer, editor-in-chief of Progressive Farmer. "As much as any class before them, we believe this class will take agriculture to new levels of professionalism as they work to feed a hungry and growing world."

This year's honorees include:

-- Houston and Katy Howlett, Camp Nevin, Glendale, Kentucky

Two-and-a-half years ago, Houston and Katy Howlett, Glendale, Kentucky stood on the subfloor of the house they were building. Word had it that a neighboring farm might be up for sale, and they were talking through possibilities.

But then the ground beneath the Howletts crumbled with the announcement of BlueOval SK, a $5.6 billion plant that would produce batteries. BlueOval flipped the land market. Land prices sprang up from $15,000 an acre to more than $100,000 an acre.

"We just don't have any expectation of consistency from year to year," Houston said. "I've honed my financial analysis of what we farm, but now there's no way to lock anything in, investing in infrastructure like grain bins and a shop, or making decisions about labor and equipment purchases -- to even grow."

The Howletts have hard work ahead of them. "I would say there's not a day that goes by that we don't have some sort of business-oriented conversation, whether it's tactical, how we're going to get things done, or about our overall strategy," Katy said.

Houston and Katy both grew up on farms in Kentucky.

Houston is a graduate from the University of Kentucky with a degree in ag economics. Katy graduated from the University of Louisville with a degree in mechanical engineering and an MBA from the University of Mississippi. She is a project manager for Altec.

The Howletts call their farms Camp Nevin Farms. It is named for the Civil War-era Union Army camp once ensconced here along treelined creeks. Today, their farm is 1,500 acres.

-- Layne and Ryane Miles, Miles Farms, McGehee, Arkansas

Layne Miles, 30, was born in McGehee, Arkansas, and farms here with his father, Matt, the fifth generation of Miles farming families. Layne coordinates logistics, monitors the crops, manages inputs and resources, and works closely with employees.

Layne has been married for 10 years to Ryane, who works on the business side of the operation.

Today, Miles Farms is 16,000 acres -- cotton, corn and soybeans -- all of it furrow irrigated and wheat and rice.

The legacy of Miles Farms looms large for Layne. His father Matt's mantra is "productive consistency." Matt, a founding member of XtremeAg (xtremeag.farm), has brought to Miles Farms a reputation for soybeans, setting the Arkansas state yield record multiple times. Matt also owns several state NCGA Corn Yield Contest awards.

Matt and Layne focus on in-field research to improve yields and the soil, on drainage and tail water recovery, on irrigation projects and reduced tillage. They have been integrating cover crop systems into the operation.

Layne and Ryane form a close-knit farming couple. "Whether it's work, or it's personal, no matter what, she's always right there with me," Layne said of Ryane. "I may come home just wired and really mad about today. And she's like, Babe, you got tomorrow. Same with my guys. We got tomorrow. We can fix it tomorrow."

-- Lucas and Dana Dull, Dull's Tree Farm, Thorntown, Indiana

When Lucas Dull left his family's Thorntown, Indiana, farm for Purdue University, he did not intend to return. Lucas graduated from Purdue with an agricultural engineering degree and met his future wife, Dana, there. She grew up on a corn, soybean and livestock farm two hours east of the Dulls and earned a degree from Purdue in math education.

Lucas had a short run with a 9-5 job, but soon knew a desk was not where he wanted to spend his professional life. He was hearing the call of the farm. At that time, it was predominately a corn and soybean operation but also one with a growing Christmas tree business operated by his father and mother, Tom and Kerry.

Lucas came home with a proposal: "Let's grow pumpkins, too."

Lucas' and Dana's first pumpkin harvest was 2014. Only five years later, the Dulls' 20-day fall season anchored by pumpkins began to outperform the four-week Christmas tree season. Income from the two enterprises together allowed the Dulls to give up row-crop farming and focus full-time on agritourism.

Dull's Tree Farm tends 65,000 Christmas trees, selling 6,000 trees annually. Eight acres grow 40 varieties of pumpkins and squash. Whether trees or pumpkins, guests also wind their way through 45 down-on-the-farm activities.

The agritourism business has become a powerful agricultural and retail draw just north of Indianapolis, drawing 80,000 visitors. Dull's Tree Farm was voted 2018 Best Christmas Tree Farm in Indiana. Lucas and Dana have become majority owners. He is general manager; she is operations manager.

"We're focused," Dana said, "on sustainability and diversification, and look for new ways to get people out to the farm and connect them. This is a business in transition."

-- DJ and Chelsea Hladky, Ainsworth, Nebraska

North-central Nebraska farmers DJ and Chelsea Hladky raise corn, soybeans, sweet corn and pumpkins in the Sandhills of Nebraska atop the massive Ogallala Aquifer. With four children, the family lives in Ainsworth, Nebraska, farming more than 5,000 acres between Rock and Brown counties.

DJ was introduced to farming as a child when his father moved the family from the Kansas City metropolitan area to Long Pine, Nebraska, to farm. After college, DJ joined the railroad and worked on his father's farm on the side until Chelsea finished nursing school.

Eventually, they made the decision to start their own operation, raising crops and kids.

"We have to do everything we can to make each acre as productive as possible," DJ said. "Changing our management practices to individualize each acre changed everything for us. Variable-rate irrigation, fertilizer and planting are some of the things we do in addition to fertility and grid sampling overlaid with production maps."

DJ, Chelsea and their kids oversee one more crop -- pumpkins. It came about by accident. One year, the family was carving pumpkins, and they dumped the guts in a field. By the next year, pumpkins began to grow, and the idea for a new family business took root. It is called 4HF.

Supplying the area with locally grown carver and decorative pumpkins, the business teaches the kids entrepreneurship. Led mostly by the Hladky's oldest child, Adeline, each of the Hladky children has a part in it.

"I'm learning how to set goals and achieve them. How to run a business. Entrepreneurship," Adeline said.

-- Lillie Beringer-Crock and Brian Crock, Cascade, Iowa

Third-generation beef producer Lillie Beringer-Crock farms in Cascade, Iowa with her husband Brian. The family farms 1,000 acres of corn, soybeans and hay, and raises 300 Angus cows. The couple also operates a 1,500-head feedlot in Tipton. They have two children.

To add diversity to the operation, Lillie opened a direct-to-consumer dry-aged beef business and is newly adding agritourism events.

"I started a beef program with the hope of, if I brought in my own stream of income, it would help me farm full time. I had to create my own path," Lillie said.

Lillie uses social media to promote her beef and agritourism businesses. "I figured if I could share what I'm doing and teach one person about agriculture and show them what we're doing, that we're not the bad guys out in the world trying to harm you, then it would be worth my time sharing our farm-to-plate story, connecting consumers to the farmers, showing the daily ins and outs, and teaching others," Lillie said.

To social media and online sales, Lillie has added a storefront. In addition to beef, she sells from the small space pork, chicken, eggs, baked goods, homemade bread, seasonal produce, dairy products and beef tallow skincare products.

Dan Miller can be reached at dan.miller@dtn.com

Follow him on social platform X @DMillerPF

Susan Payne can be reached at susan.payne@dtn.com

Follow her on social platform X @jpusan

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